Requirements for Developing Interoperable e-Government Systems in Developing Countries

Abstract

E-government initiatives in developing countries still suffer from lack of interoperability, despite the existence of e-government interoperability frameworks in literature. For example, Uganda's e-government landscape is fragmented within and across agencies. To provide preliminary insights into addressing this, exploratory interviews were conducted to investigate why the e-government interoperability challenge prevails in Uganda, and findings were used with respect to existing literature to specify required strategic interventions. These strategic interventions point to the need for three intertwined capabilities, i.e., a regulatory and governance framework, a capacity building and sustainability framework, and an adaptation and customisation framework for e-government implementations. Therefore, the relevance of this paper is twofold. First, to give insight into strategic interventions that developing economies (that share Uganda's context) can explore to address e-government interoperability. Second, to stimulate researchers in countries that have attained e-government interoperability to publish detailed technical guidelines on implementing the strategic interventions proposed herein.